Howery Violins

Welcome to Howery Violins.

Will Howery is a violinmaker and luthier working and living on Amelia Island. He also plays violin with the Amelia Island String Ensemble.

Hand crafted Violins and Violas direct from the maker that you can afford. Please look at the Rental/Purchase information!

My Violin Studio is at my residence. When you plan to visit, please make an appointment via The Shop Appointment Calendar. Thank You.

Will’s Blogs

The Making Violin #6, Fiona Started today

Sound Testing #5 Edward With #5, Edward, playable in the white, I did a set of recordings for comparison to when Edward will have his varnish on. The recordings consist of a set of open string bowings; G, D, A, E and then a D major scale, and a three octave A major scale. The…

May 10, 2014
Edward #5 Setup to Play his first tunes

Today Edward, Violiln #5, was setup and played in the white. Edward was started in February of 2014. When I went to the Tuscon violin making workshop, Edward’s ribs were done and the plate edges were trimmed. Today setup was completed in the white, prior to varnishing. The reason I’m setting up Edward before varnishing…

May 9, 2014
Today I played a completed Howery Violin!!!

Finally after several years of study, 2 workshops, months of trail and error varnishing; I’ve finished Diana #4. She is varnished, setup, and played!!! Claude #3 will be completed later this week. I wasn’t content with the color and stripped him to do a second run, which came out very nice. I will say that…

April 5, 2014
Claude getting some color

After many false starts and learning many new things about color theory, oil painting, glazing, etc etc my violins are starting to look like violins.

April 5, 2014
Varnishing Beatrice

Finally at the stage of varnishing my early violins. The following photos show the varnishing stages of Beatrice my second violin. This photo shows Beatrice with two coats of cold rolled linseed oil. I actually use the food grade fax oil from the health food store. Also she has two clear coats of a oil…

November 17, 2013
Day Ten of Violin Making Workshop

Today is that point where we cut holes in the front of the violin plate which we just spent 4 days making contoured, inlaid, smoothed, and very thin. We are going to draw intricately curved lines, drill four holes in the middle of the plate, cut between the holes with a jewelers fret saw, and…

August 2, 2013
Day Eight of the Violin Making Workshop

Days 7&8 were spent shaping the outer curves of the top and bottom plates. With the purfling done, the height of the outer edges is set. The purfling line will be gouged down with a small gouge (approx 6mm) and then a larger gouge will carry the curve into the body of the plate a…

July 31, 2013
Day Three of the Violin Making Workshop

Three days of learning and building. We started by making a model template out of aluminum, transfering that to a plywood mold, making and gluing top, bottom, and corner blocks, thinning the side pieces, bending and gluing the side pieces to the mold,putting linings on the bottom side of the mold. Then…

July 26, 2013
Violin Making Bibliography

Since I was in my teens I’ve dreamed of making a violin. My first book on the subject was a Christmas gift from my Dad when I was 20 years old along with a scooping gouge for hollowing a violin plate. Dad was an avid wood worker until a stroke took away his coordination in…

June 21, 2013
Launching Howery Violins Word Press site

Until this point in time, Howery Violins has had a face book presence at facebook.com/howeryviolins, now a WordPress site is being built to carry the blogs, news and happenings of William Howery’s journey in violin making

May 28, 2013

Will’s Blog Posts:

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Sebastian: Step 2(B) in the Balsam Ground process, Adding Aged Wood Color Gold. When a violin is initially finished it is white, if we applied varnish with no color and the instrument had a bump or scratch, the white wood would sparkle through the wound. Also, we, and more importantly musicians, want instruments that look old. Stradivari and Guarneri instruments are old, henceforth we value instruments that look old, at least not brand spanking new with white wood. Since the Balsam ground is what goes INTO the wood, it makes sense that we add color down into the wood. With the color in the wood, when a dent or scratch happens, the colored wood will reflect back. Additionally, we will antique Sebastian in later varnishing stages. This antiquing will remove some of the varnish we will yet apply, and underneath that varnish will be our colored wood. Over the centuries many methods have been used to darken the wood, everything from dark pigments to chemical acid baths that darken the wood during or before varnishing. Most of these methods either blocked the light illuminating from the wood cells, or worse yet destroyed the cell structure weakening the wood and hastening the instruments demise. The 18th century Cremonese instruments had intense illumination. When you focus a bright light on the varnish of well preserved Stradivari instruments, the color of the varnish disappears and you see bright reflections from the cell structure of the underlying wood, particularly on the maple. Using pigments or chemical coloring processes deadens this reflective illumination of the wood. The Balsam Ground process is designed to enhance the wood’s natural illumination. If you have the chance to spend any time with Joe Robson you will hear his mantra, “The Illuminating power of the ground is stronger than the tinting power of the varnish”. To maintain and/or enhance this illumination the Balsam Ground uses a mordant on mordant process, similar to dye color fastening used for textiles. Balsam ground preparation #2 ground has polar compounds it adds to Mordent bind the vegetable based Aged Wood Colors to the cell walls. The first color we will apply to the instrume

Sebastian: Step 2(B) in the Balsam Ground process, Adding Aged Wood Color Gold. When a violin is initially finished it is white, if we applied varnish with no color and the instrument had a bump or scratch, the white wood would sparkle through the wound. Also, we, and more importantly musicians, want instruments that look…

September 14, 2019
Sebastian: Step 2(A) in the Balsam Ground process. After the instrument is dry to the touch: even though the solution is alcohol, giving the balsam resins time to dry is important. I sent Sebastian out in the sun for a bit and hung him in the shop overnight. The first step is dry brushes the entire instrument first using the “Tail of the Horse” and then a soft long haired brush (A Spanish dry brush I get from Joe Robson). The dry brushing, cleans, smoothes and pushes any surface resins into the pores. The ground is IN the wood, the later varnish is ON the wood. Balsam # 2 preparations. #2 is mixed 1:4 with alcohol. Use the good stuff, Everclear is pure grain alcohol, drinkable. Get the highest proof Everclear you can buy. Hardware store and drug store (isopropyl) alcohol has additives or is wood alcohol. I used to try and volume measure or eyeball the proportions, but after developing a delicious bread baking habit, I’ve found weighing the proportions easier and more accurate. Joe says just eyeball it, get close enough, but with everything “Joe” his eyeball is likely more accurate than my scale.. The balsam ground preparation #1 step added illumination to the wood cells #2’s purpose is to get in and distributed the resins. Balsam ground preparation #2 ground has polar compounds it adds to Mordent so later added colors ( steps 2B, 2C) can bind to the cell walls

Sebastian: Step 2(A) in the Balsam Ground process. After the instrument is dry to the touch: even though the solution is alcohol, giving the balsam resins time to dry is important. I sent Sebastian out in the sun for a bit and hung him in the shop overnight. The first step is dry brushes the…

September 11, 2019
Sebastian: Here we go again into varnish land… Step 1: Balsam Ground #1 The first part of varnishing is to prepare the wood for the varnish. A ground coat is everything that goes into the wood, the later varnish coats go on top of the wood. Balsam Ground #1 puts balsam pitch down into the wood’s cell structure, its the first part of a mordant on mordant process that will coat the cell walls, but not seal (or clog) up the cells. We want the cells to be as free as possible to sing, also we want to protect the wood, and let the light enter the cells, then bounce back in all the brilliance the wood can support. Not only does a violin need to sound pretty, it needs to look pretty too. Balsam Ground #1 is applied straight from the bottle. It is alcohol based, so it dries very quickly. The tendency is to put more on than you need. Keep track of where you brushed and move on. It dries so fast that you will think you missed areas. I always dab a bit extra where end grain is exposed

Sebastian: Here we go again into varnish land… Step 1: Balsam Ground #1 The first part of varnishing is to prepare the wood for the varnish. A ground coat is everything that goes into the wood, the later varnish coats go on top of the wood. Balsam Ground #1 puts balsam pitch down into the…

September 9, 2019
Sebastian: As an evacuee of Dorian the hurricane, I’m sharing my Spouse’s cabin at the Lilian E Smith Center near Clayton GA. She has been coming here the past few years for an Artist Residency, lucky for me to have such a beautiful place in nature to escape to. While here I’m Brushing Sebastian with the “Tail of The Horse”. After we have smoothed out any scraping and end grain furries with Equisetum (AKA Horse Tail), we go to the next finer abrasive which is the Tail of the Horse. When a luthier re-hairs violin, viola, and cello bows, they use a hank of horse hair, most typically from Mongolian ponies. When the hank of horse hair is done there is a think brush of course horseh air left over. Dorian Barnes sells these with epoxy binding the hair together to make a really nice stiff course brush. I brush the wood on the side edges of the horse hair to give a bit of a cut, kind of like a very very small scraper. This brushing smooths the wood without changing the grain contour and removes any remaining dust and furries

Sebastian: As an evacuee of Dorian the hurricane, I’m sharing my Spouse’s cabin at the Lilian E Smith Center near Clayton GA. She has been coming here the past few years for an Artist Residency, lucky for me to have such a beautiful place in nature to escape to. While here I’m Brushing Sebastian with…

September 3, 2019
Sebastian: Getting ready for the ground and varnish stage. Sebastian has his neck set, fingerboard and nut done, saddle on, and now we are ready to prepare the wood for varnishing. I’ve used sharp scrapers to make the plate surfaces as smooth as possible. The next step is to use Equisetum, a plant that has silica ridges. Dorian Barnes processes the Equisetum to an easy to use form. The Equisetum plant has been used since Egyptian times to smooth wood. Violin makers avoid sand paper, since it leaves grit in the wood, and scores the wood fibers. We want the sonorous wood as clean as possible. I’ll also wash the wood with clean water a few times to remove any debris. I take my time in this cleanup prep phase. After I’ve worked on the instrument for a couple of hours my eyes get tired and don’t see things that need attention. So, put it down, come back tomorrow, then there are new areas that need attention. Maybe there are elves in the studio that make flat spots, or mess with the wood during the night?

Sebastian: Getting ready for the ground and varnish stage. Sebastian has his neck set, fingerboard and nut done, saddle on, and now we are ready to prepare the wood for varnishing. I’ve used sharp scrapers to make the plate surfaces as smooth as possible. The next step is to use Equisetum, a plant that has…

August 30, 2019
Sebastian: “when you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down”, p. 453 ‘The Overstory’ by Richard Powers

Sebastian: “when you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down”, p. 453 ‘The Overstory’ by Richard Powers #violin #viola #fiddle #5stringfiddle #violinJameson #violinSebastion #violinmaker #luthier #orchestra #fernandinabeach #ameliaisland #brunswickga #staugustine #stmarys #jacksonville #jaxsymphony #unfmusic #jumusic #luthier #whatsonmybench #violinist #florida #northflorida #Georgia #luthier…

August 10, 2019
Sebastian: The neck is set. I just finished the UNH violin workshop last week. Todd Goldenberg.goldenberg honed my skills. Now with sharper tools, and better posture, the work gets easier and tighter. Thanks Todd

Sebastian: The neck is set. I just finished the UNH violin workshop last week. Todd Goldenberg #todd.goldenberg honed my skills. Now with sharper tools, and better posture, the work gets easier and tighter. Thanks Todd!! #violin #viola #fiddle #5stringfiddle #violinSebastion #violinmaker #luthier #orchestra #fernandinabeach #ameliaisland #brunswickga #staugustine #stmarys #jacksonville #jaxsymphony #unfmusic #jumusic #luthier #whatsonmybench #violinist…

August 8, 2019
Professional Todd Goldenberg stress testing Viola Sebastian at the University of New Hampshire violin making workshop

Professional Todd Goldenberg stress testing Viola Sebastian at the University of New Hampshire violin making workshop. #violin #viola #fiddle #5stringfiddle #violinJameson #fiddlejamesen #violinSebastion #violinmaker #luthier #orchestra #fernandinabeach #ameliaisland #brunswickga #staugustine #stmarys #jacksonville #jaxsymphony #unfmusic #jumusic #luthier #whatsonmybench #violinist #florida #northflorida #Georgia #luthier #firstcoast #unhviolininstitute

August 1, 2019
A lovely warm day scrambling over the jagged limestone Hills of the Burren

A lovely warm day scrambling over the jagged limestone Hills of the Burren

June 25, 2019
Enjoying some trad music in Kinvara Ireland. The Guinness as well….

Enjoying some trad music in Kinvara Ireland. The Guinness as well….

June 23, 2019